Hear Michael Jackson’s Aughts-y ‘XSCAPE’ Title Track

Rodney Jerkins collaboration for posthumous album has surfaced online

Last month, Epic Records confirmed it would release a Timbaland-led posthumous Michael Jackson album, XSCAPE, on May 13. Then came word that D’Angelo, Mary J. Blige, and ?uestlove would appear on the album, which features “contemporized” versions of unreleased Jackson songs (and also has a song addressing the subject of the pop legend’s legal troubles). Now Okayplayer points to what it says is the title track from the record. Co-written with Rodney Jerkins, the only producer on the album who was there for the original recording, “XSCAPE” dates to the recording sessions for Jackson’s final album, 2001’s Invincible. It’s certainly not hard to imagine this chrome-bright funk-pop in the year of N’ Sync’s Celebrity and Destiny’s Child’s Survivor, but those mega-selling comparisons might be misleading — bear in mind this didn’t make the original album. Still, as much as the late singer really does deserve somehow to escape the relentless public eye one day, it’s great to hear his “woo-hoo!” again.

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